The Ascension
by Daze Riot
Summary: A re-write of a story I originally wrote back in 2002 called Angel's Ascension. Sephiroth emerged victorious at the battle in the Northern Cave and has become god. His dark angels are the former members of Avalanche, brainwashed and bestowed terrifying new powers.
1. Prelude

A low, dim light fell over the quiet town of Kalm. The centre of town was eerily quiet, only a small handful of citizens were out of their homes and they moved as if hunted by something far bigger and more powerful than themselves. Nobody wanted to be outdoors when the sun went down. Not anymore. Not since the Ascension. God now walked the earth, and he was a dark, terrible god. A god with a single wing, a wicked blade and a name; Sephiroth.

The sky had turned an unsettling gray on the night of the Ascension and it seemed to the people of Kalm that it had never regained it's light. People dreamt of blue skies but awoke to swirling storm clouds more often than not. Foolish people whispered that the swirling clouds had eyes, ever watchful for signs of disobedience. Rarely were those people seen again. Ever since the night the meteor had fallen from the heavens, life had changed significantly.

The silence that permeated through Kalm was shattered momentarily by the barking of a dog. The pooch was standing at attention, ears pointed straight up. An old man, the dogs master presumably, pulled the dog away from the window. He didn't know what the dog was seeing or smelling, but he was sure it wasn't good. Briefly peeking out the window, the old man saw something small falling from the sky, almost like a shooting star except for the sickly green glow trailing behind it. The old man quickly closed his curtains and preyed silently that the dog hadn't attracted the angles attention.

The old man had only seen an angel once, the night following the fall of the meteor. That same eerie green glowing light had flashed in the sky against the dark clouds and moments later a man was standing in the centre of town. For a moment hope had fluttered through the old man on fragile butterfly wings. He had recognized the tall man with the dark skin and the heavy machine gun in place of his right arm. He'd travelled through the town not long ago with a small group of what the old man suspected were the terrorists he'd heard about from Midgar, the ones calling themselves Avalanche. It only took a moment for the hope to be crushed by fear.

The man with the machine gun had came to inform the people of Kalm that he had been chosen to be an angel, a servant to the god Sephiroth. He was a messenger from the heavens and his message was; obey or perish. Confusion and panic tore through the small town at the angels message. Half the town cowered in fear, the other rebelled. The ringleader of the chaos, just a boy really, had rallied the bravest amongst them to storm the "so-called" angel. What followed couldn't be called a battle. The dark angel barely raised an eyebrow, but he did raise his arm cannon and blast the poor boy into the next world. The boys mothers cry cut through the night, bringing a sudden halt to the short lived riot. The boys corpse was lifted into the air by some invisible force, tearing it from the mothers grasp. The body hung there, suspended by some invisible hook it seemed, rotating ever so slowly. The angel said no more; his message had been received loud and clear. In a flash of green light, the angel vanished. The boys corpse remained there for a full day and night before it, too, suddenly vanished.

Ever since that night, the citizens of Kalm had spoken in hardly more than whispers. Businesses closed overnight. The peaceful town of Kalm, which the old man had lived in his entire life and had never yearned to leave suddenly became a prison. He didn't leave his home unless it was unavoidable, or as was becoming more and more frequent, decided to spend the night at the bar. The drink calmed his nerves, stopped his hands from shaking, at least for a little while.

One night at the bar he'd overheard a conversation that chilled him to his core. A crowd of young folk were crowded around this man, urging him to tell his story. Other people sitting at the bar decided that they were better off not being apart of any dangerous talk, but he old man noticed the way their heads tilted towards the sound of the mans voice. Heck, he was doing it himself.

The one talking was a youngish man with a shock of crimson red hair. He carried himself with the air of someone who glided through life, but the shadows under his eyes and the uneasy glances towards the door hinted at a fear he wasn't accustomed to. The young man, Reno, he learned later, had travelled from Midgar. There were a lot more people in the metropolis than there were in sleepy Kalm, and information apparently more plentiful.

According to Reno, the person who'd proclaimed himself God was none other than the legendary hero and SOLDIER 1st Class; Sephiroth. The old man had guessed that much, after all Sephiroth wasn't a very common name, but what had come as a chilling surprise was that the angel serving Sephiroth was in fact a member of Avalanche who'd failed to stop the insane SOLDIER and as a result had become his brainwashed slave. According to Reno, there were seven angels roaming the planet, doing their dark gods bidding, whatever that was, all previously members of Avalanche. The dark skinned man with the machine gun for an arm was called Barret, and was apparently often sighted in Midgar, seemingly searching for someone. He was sometimes accompanied by a beautiful, terrifying woman with long, dark hair. Reno said her name was Tifa, and she was once a sweet, strong-willed woman who he'd admired despite being an adversary of sorts.

News of others angels was harder to come by, but there had been reports that the night the angel Barret had appeared in Kalm, other towns had been received the same message Kalm had from other angels. Cosmo Canyon had apparently been visited by a beast with orange fur with the voice of a man. Rocket Town had been shaken by the appearance of Cid Highland, a local hero, apparently corrupted. Wutai had been visited by a young ninja girl who'd slain her own father in a show of force. The people of North Coral spoke in hushed tones of a devil in a red cloak. A man from Nibelheim had told Reno that a spiky haired youth with blond hair and a vicious, gigantic sword had appeared that night, but unlike the other reports of angels appearing and disappearing in flashes of green light, the blond man, after delivering his message, had simply walked towards Shinra Manor and had never come out. Shadows could been seen moving in the windows of the manor, but no one had dared approach it.

Downing his drink, the old man decided he'd heard enough and headed home. He didn't want to be around if, as he suspected, the angels had heard everything Reno had said. The boys corpse floating above his head still lingered in his mind whenever a dangerous thought entered his head. The planet was under new management, and as far as the old man was concerned, it wasn't like to change anytime soon. He only hoped his death would be painless, and would free him from the horror of this new reality.


	2. Final Mission of the Turks

**TWO YEARS LATER**

Footsteps echoed through the dark halls of the abandoned, derelict Shinra building. Were it not for the moonlight faintly illuminating through the broken windows the building would be in complete darkness. The silence was heavy, making each footstep sound like a gong striking at midnight. The blonde woman felt as though her heartbeat was an alarm ringing through the halls.

"Lighter on your feet, Elena." Came a whisper from the shadows ahead of her. "You sound like a behemoth."

"Shut up!" Elena hissed, trying to keep from screaming at her annoying companion. "They'll hear us."

Elena thought she saw Reno's typical grin through the darkness but it may well have been her imagination. That grin wasn't as common as it once was. The Ascension had only increased the redheads carefree nature even as the world defended into a nightmare. It wasn't until Rude, Reno's long-time partner, had gone missing that an unfamiliar melancholy had shown in his eyes. Nonetheless he was still, in Elena's opinion, a frustrating ass.

"We've searched the building before and there was nothing here," Reno shot back, a slight edge to his voice, "what makes you think they're here now?"

"It's the best lead we've got." Elena replied, her voice controlled. She was, after all, a professional. "Three separate people all saw the same thing; a green light in the sky, an attractive woman-"

"I believe the gentleman witness's exact words were 'hot babe with nice ti-"

"And a bald, unconscious man being carried!" Elena cut in. "It could be him. We have to take this seriously, Reno." A note of pleading crept into the blond woman's voice.

Reno didn't reply right away, but after a moment he inclined his head. "Alright, fine, you're right." He admitted. "Let's go."

The two Turks crept through their old base, stepping over fallen debris and what may have been the remain of former Shina employees. Elena didn't look too closely at those. The blast the building had taken from the Diamond Weapon had destroyed most of the top levels, leaving only a blackened and burnt husk of the former offices, but more inconveniently had obliterated the elevators, meaning the only way to the upper floors was the stairway. Shinra Headquarters was a very tall building with 70 floors which made searching the place a tedious process unless one knew where to look. Reno and Elena, unfortunately, had no idea where their companion was being held, if he was here at all. So far they had swept and cleared up to floor 16. It was going to be a very long night.

"What if they're in the basement?" Elena pondered out loud, causing Reno to flinch at the sudden noise.

"The basement? It's possible, but..." Reno let his sentence hang in the air.

"But what?"

"Well, why would they, ya know?" Reno replied, a thought forming in his head. "I mean, if Tifa - I mean, the angel - is here, what would they be doing?"

"Presumably torture." Elena answered, immediately cringing. "Sorry."

Reno grimaced, but continued on "Right, and which floor in this building houses cages, cells and various, fucked up instruments of torture?"

"Hojo's lab." Elena replied softly, a shiver running down her back. That place always freaked her out. Back before all this, when she was a new recruit for the Turks working at Shinra, she had avoided the science department as much as possible. Professor Hojo may have had a brilliant scientific mind, but he was a major creep.

"Right." Reno replied heavily. Elena thought that Reno had probably wanted her to somehow contradict his theory. She guessed he was as much a fan of the lab as she was.

It was a longshot, but the two Turks decided to take the stairs to the 67th floor. Checking every floor would take too long, giving the angel ample time to escape or, Elena thought with a shiver, kill her prisoner. The climb up the narrow staircase was a long and tiresome one, but eventually they came to the door that opened to the science department.

Surprisingly, and disappointingly Elena thought, the floor hadn't been wiped out by the Diamond Weapons attack. The power was still running though the light flickered wildly, casting long shadows across the floor and walls. Reno lead the way and Elena followed, passing several locked cells. At each door Reno would place his ear against the door, listening for any evidence that the cell was occupied, then rap his knuckles against the steel door and await a reply.

There was no response until they came upon the final cell. A muffled knocking sound, the same sequence as Reno's, came from inside the cell. Elena and Reno exchanged a surprised glance.

"I'll open the doors." Elena volunteered, "you should be here to carry Rude in case he's not capable of moving unassisted. He's too heavy for me to carry."

"He's too heavy for me too." Reno replied with a hesitant smile. "But fine, I guess I'll do the heavy lifting. Be careful."

Elena smiled back at Reno before darting off towards the main office where the computerized locks for the cell doors was located, making every effort to mask the sound of her footsteps. If it was Rude in that cell, and Elena was sure it was, it meant the witnesses had been reliable, which in turn meant there was likely an angel close by. Running into one of them by herself would result in her certain death, she was sure. She'd seen firsthand the damage and destruction they could cause even if she'd never seen one in person. She had hoped to keep it that way for as long as possible.

The office was empty. Elena snuck in and quietly closed the door behind her, locking it for all the good that would do. Against the north wall was a console with two large monitors above it. Elena typed in the command for the security settings. The monitors which had previously shown the Shinra, Inc. logo switched the display to security camera footage of the inside of each cell. Elena let out an excited yelp when she saw Rude in one of the cells on the feed. "I knew it!"

Fingers moving rapidly over the keyboard, Elena selected the cell her friend was locked in and selected the command to unlock the door. Elena grinned as the door slid open and Reno ran into the room, rushing to support the weight of his partner. They exchanged words that Elena couldn't hear through the speakers, then Reno helped his friend to his feet. Rude was in bad shape, that much as clear to Elena even through the camera feed. Blood covered his face and hands, and his suit was torn in several places. It was the lack of his signature sunglasses that shock Elena the most, though. She could hardly remember seeing him without them. Instead his left eye was swollen closed and covered in an ugly purple bruise. Rude spat a glob of what looked like blood onto the floor. Battered and beaten as he was, Rude managed to stay on his feet with the help of his partner. Just as the two Turk partners were about to exited the cell, a shadow moved in the doorway. Elena let out an involuntary gasp. The figure standing in front of them had suddenly appeared as if from the shadows themselves.

Elena's first instinct was to run, run out of the Shina building and not stop until she was well outside of Midgar. Her second instinct was to rush to the aid of her friends, but the sudden sound crackling from the speakers gave her pause.

"I've gotten all I need from that one." The angel stated matter-of-factly. Elena recognized the voice of Tifa Lockhart, thought it had taken on an otherworldly quality as if run through a filter. "But you," she said, an almost seductive tone in her words, "maybe you can help me."

"Fuck you!" Reno countered, his voice higher than Elena had ever heard it. "You're not getting anything out of me."

"They all say that in the beginning." Tifa replied, "but in the end they always come around."

For what seemed like hours silence hung in the air between the angel and the two men. The red-haired Turk stared down the angel and Elena couldn't help but be impressed by his courage. Even Rude, hardly able to stand by himself, didn't back down after she'd done god-knows-what to him for weeks. A fierce pride in her fellow Turks welled up in her chest, and for a moment Elena was elated. This came to an end suddenly as she watched in horror as Reno struck out with his rod, bolts of electrical power flashing at its tip. Tifa, however, was too fast. Moving so quickly Elena could hardly tell what happened, the brunette martial artist ducked under the attack, spun around on while crouched and landed a kick to Reno's chest. The force of the kick was unnaturally strong, launching Reno off his feet and careening into the opposite wall of the cell. Rude was thrown to the side, landing heavily on the floor.

Reno, clutching his chest, crawled to his feet ready to attack, but Tifa had already effortlessly picked up Rude with one hand, her small hand around his throat. It was almost absurd, watching the small woman lifting a man well over a foot taller than her, and probably twice as heavy. Reno hesitated, not willing to attack and risk hurting his partner.

"Let him go." Reno snarled.

"I plan to. Just tell me where he is."

"You'll have to be more specific."

Tifa's hand tightened on Rude's throat, causing him to gasp for air.

"Wait!" Reno shouted, holding out his hands and dropping his weapon. It clattered to the floor, the electric shutting off as soon as it left Reno's hand. "We don't know. He moves around. You took Rude three weeks ago, by now he's probably on another continent. Rude has no way of knowing where he went."

"But you do?" Tifa asked, her voice low.

"Yes. And I'll tell you, as soon as you let Rude go."

"Very well."

What happened next happened so quickly Elena barely had time to register it. An audible crack sounded through the speakers. Rude's neck was twisted at an unnatural angle, his eyes expressionless. Tifa had snapped his neck.

"You know, he told me he always had a crush on me." Tifa's voice was filled with a cruel glee. "Told me I was beautiful."

Rude's lifeless body fell of the floor in a heap as Reno rushed forward to attack the dark angel with his bare hands. Elena watched in horror as Tifa easily dodged his attack, spinning on her heels and letting Reno run right past her. Now behind the red-head, Tifa landed a quick jab in the small of his back that brought the Turk to his knees. Tifa grabbed a handful of his hair and raised her other arm up high for the killing blow.

Before it landed, Reno screamed out "Elena! Run!"

Elena watched as the angels upraised hand flew down but the video feet cut to static before the blow landed. Tears running down her face, Elena ran. She ran and ran until she was well outside of Midgar.


End file.
